This hypothesis about the extinction of dinosaurs posits that the culprit behind the cataclysmic event at the end of the Cretaceous period was not an asteroid, but a comet. Some scientists believe that the Sun has a companion star orbiting it, which, every 20 to 30 million years, comes into close proximity to certain large comets. The gravitational interference of this companion star could generate tens of thousands of comet storms within the solar system, some of which struck Earth. Therefore, Earth would be ravaged every 26 to 30 million years, resulting in a major extinction event for life on Earth every 26 to 30 million years; the extinction of the dinosaurs was simply one of these cyclical extinctions.
Regarding the specific extinction of the dinosaurs, different scientists believe the consequences of a comet impact on Earth differ. American scientist Anders believes the impact resulted in a massive fireball reaching temperatures of 3000 degrees Celsius. This fireball rapidly expanded outwards, causing massive forest fires in North America and Asia, reducing all life to ashes. Anders' hypothesis is based on the discovery of 10,000 times higher levels of carbon ash in sediments dating back 65 million years compared to other rock layers.
Chinese-Swiss scientist Jinghua Hsu believes that the devastating impact of this comet on Earth was far more severe than the extinction of the dinosaurs alone. The immense energy of the explosion caused global dust storms that obscured the sun, polluting the entire Earth's ecosystem and turning the oceans into dead seas. Furthermore, compounds from the explosion dissolved in water vapor, forming torrential acid rain that further damaged the ecosystem, ultimately leading to the extinction of numerous species, including the dinosaurs.
So how did Professor Xu Jinghua arrive at his theory? What is his scientific basis? This is exactly what our "Dinosaur Museum" is explaining step by step in our column "Learning Scientific Processes and Methods—How Geologists Arrived at the 'Comet Impact Theory'?" Please continue to follow that column!
